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Topic: Well, this is it! :) (Read 3555 times)

Tomorrow (friday the 9th), our little fledgling parish-to-be heads up (down? over?) to South Carolina for ordinations/chrismations/baptisms! Please keep us all in prayer as we travel tomorrow... and for the services that happen on Saturday and Sunday! (and safe travel back, too.) and yes, pics will be posted...

May the road rise up to meet you.May the wind always be at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face,the rain fall soft upon your fieldsand until we meet again,may God hold you in the palm of his han

May the road rise up to meet you.May the wind always be at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face,the rain fall soft upon your fieldsand until we meet again,may God hold you in the palm of his han

May the road rise up to meet you.May the wind always be at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face,the rain fall soft upon your fieldsand until we meet again,may God hold you in the palm of his han

May the road rise up to meet you.May the wind always be at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face,the rain fall soft upon your fieldsand until we meet again,may God hold you in the palm of his han

May the road rise up to meet you.May the wind always be at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face,the rain fall soft upon your fieldsand until we meet again,may God hold you in the palm of his han

May the road rise up to meet you.May the wind always be at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face,the rain fall soft upon your fieldsand until we meet again,may God hold you in the palm of his han

well....surpise....chrismations and baptisms are going to be TONIGHT.... wow!

At last the waiting is over! Amazing how God works...very happy this moment has arrived for you, your family, priest-to-be and fledging parish. Enjoy and treasure this occasion of your entry into the Orthodox Church. Praying for you and look forward to hearing how it went.

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Live in South/East Auckland, Franklin or North Waikato regions of New Zealand? Interested in Orthodoxy? Need transport to an Orthodox Church? Want to meet others? Please send me a PM

"You have made us for yourself, Lord; and our hearts are restless until they rest in You" - St. Augustine (my patron saint)

May the road rise up to meet you.May the wind always be at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face,the rain fall soft upon your fieldsand until we meet again,may God hold you in the palm of his han

Check out the big grin on her face!!! My daughter described our evening as 'the most amazingly awesome thing ever!' It was her and my son's first exposure to an Orthodox service... and I can tell it had the same impact on them (at least, her for sure) as it did me. What a deeply touching and profound night. And more to come tomorrow, as the clergy ordinations begin!!! Not only were all 12 of us chrismated (plus two baptisms) - this is the beginning of our parish... this is the weekend St. Nicholas of Myra Orthodox Church is officially born. These are the kinds of beautiful moments in life that just can't be duplicated.....and memories to treasure forever.

May the road rise up to meet you.May the wind always be at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face,the rain fall soft upon your fieldsand until we meet again,may God hold you in the palm of his han

May the road rise up to meet you.May the wind always be at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face,the rain fall soft upon your fieldsand until we meet again,may God hold you in the palm of his han

God willing there may be two more Priests, one deacon and some laity following your footsteps hopefully the last of this month or first of December. Baptisms are such a special thing to those being baptized and to all present.

We offer our hopes for every success in you new church and will certainly pray for each of you at mass tomorrow.

God willing there may be two more Priests, one deacon and some laity following your footsteps hopefully the last of this month or first of December. Baptisms are such a special thing to those being baptized and to all present.

We offer our hopes for every success in you new church and will certainly pray for each of you at mass tomorrow.

May the road rise up to meet you.May the wind always be at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face,the rain fall soft upon your fieldsand until we meet again,may God hold you in the palm of his han

Another amazing day here in SC. One sub-deacon was ordained, and our priest was ordained as a deacon; tomorrow he will be ordained as a priest (apparently there's a rule, have to be a deacon for at least a day before jumping up to priest, even if you were a priest before LOL). It was very cool!

Today was also our first celebration of the Eucharist!!! I was surprised to find myself in tears afterwards... the amazing sense of holiness, of awe, of... GOD.....! Maybe it sunk in that we were really home now.

After church, we had lunch, and then visited the Saints Mary & Martha Orthodox Monastery.... the nuns were WONDERFUL and so kind.

May the road rise up to meet you.May the wind always be at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face,the rain fall soft upon your fieldsand until we meet again,may God hold you in the palm of his han

May the road rise up to meet you.May the wind always be at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face,the rain fall soft upon your fieldsand until we meet again,may God hold you in the palm of his han

May the road rise up to meet you.May the wind always be at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face,the rain fall soft upon your fieldsand until we meet again,may God hold you in the palm of his han

What a wonderful thread. Congratulations, many years and welcome home.

James

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We owe greater gratitude to those who humble us, wrong us, and douse us with venom, than to those who nurse us with honour and sweet words, or feed us with tasty food and confections, for bile is the best medicine for our soul. - Elder Paisios of Mount Athos

May the road rise up to meet you.May the wind always be at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face,the rain fall soft upon your fieldsand until we meet again,may God hold you in the palm of his han

Question a friend, perhaps he did not do it; but if he did anything so that he may do it no more.A hasty quarrel kindles fire,and urgent strife sheds blood.If you blow on a spark, it will glow;if you spit on it, it will be put out; and both come out of your mouth

Reflecting back on things now, I think the single most moving moment of the whole entire weekend was on Sunday. After Fr. Benedict was ordained as a priest, he served us communion... us, the brand-new parish of 12 newly-chrismated believers who'd been on this journey along with him. And tho I was not consciously thinking of it at the time, I can look back and see how God started leading me to this time and place as far back as 10 years ago, how one thing led to another thing, which led to another thing...how the most seemingly random connections (joining an Anglican church, which is how I met Fr. B and my other friends/now fellow-parishoners on Facebook; then someone posting a link to Ancient Faith Radio over a year ago... and so on) all worked together to bring me to that point right then and there. And all of us have stories like that, about how God brought us right to that time and place thru a series of seemingly random events... anyway, just to be a part of that moment was absolutely priceless and one I'll never forget. I was tearing up before it was even my turn to receive. There was just something about that particular moment that was overwhelming.

There were other moments too... when my daughter was baptized... when we were all chrismated... the kindness of the nuns at Sts. Mary & Martha Monastery (OCA) that we got to visit on Saturday (one in particular noticed how tired I looked and kept saying over and over again how she will pray for me...think she figured out that I'm a single mom tho I didn't outright say so, lol).... when we were presented with our icon of St. Nicholas at lunch on Sunday.... the sense of awe and wonder and "being HOME" as we were chrismated and during our first Divine Liturgy the next day... the feeling of watching a church family being born right before our eyes. We all went over to SC as Anglican or Presbyterian or Catholic or "miscellaneous religious background" lay folks and we all came home together as a church family.

It was a time I'll never, ever forget...something quite special, quite remarkable indeed. I am so thankful God made a way for the kids and I to be a part of it.

May the road rise up to meet you.May the wind always be at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face,the rain fall soft upon your fieldsand until we meet again,may God hold you in the palm of his han

Since I live far away I have only small hopes of visiting Saints Mary & Martha, but I agree it is a special place. I purchase candles from them and eagerly read news about their progress. Hopefully you will be able to visit with them again.

"Beloved in Christ, if you ever despair, wondering if what you do for God matters, remember: each single act of holiness is like a stone thrown into an ocean—the ripples go forth, and we do not know whom they touch or where they end."

forgive me if I don't have your name correct ... I wanted to share a quote with you from St.Cyril of Jerusalem that my Godmother gave me at my baptism ...

"Great indeed is the baptism which is offered to you. It is the ransom to captives; the remission of sin; the regeneration of the soul; the garment of light; the holy seal indissoluble; the chariot to heaven; the luxury of paradise; a procuring of the Kingdom; the gift of adoption."

I think your daughter was right, "this IS the most awesome thing EVER" !